2026 Recruiting: - Caden Pierce (Transfer) potential interest | Page 14 | The Boneyard
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2026 Recruiting: Caden Pierce (Transfer) potential interest

superjohn said:
It's hard to judge height from a picture but he certainly looks way taller than his brother who plays for the Colts who is listed at 6'3. Also his brother Justin is standing right next to him and he's listed at 6'7.

View attachment 114497
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Again hard to tell from pic but both parents are tall especially his Mom who has to be close to 6' if Alec is 6'3".
 
GampelGladiator said:
I'm all in on Jaylin Stewart being our starting PF next year.
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..... we will absolutely need to portal in an athletic 4 who can board and play big minutes. We are a mediocre rebounding team as is, and we will lose our top two rebounders next year.

Stew has a world of talent, but three years in, I still have no idea (nor does he) what he is.
 
Mr. French said:
His brother is in the NFL and is a 6’3 WR who runs a 4.4 - not sure if the question was serious but that’s what he meant.

His other brother played basketball at UNC and now is overseas as a pro.
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I'm a retired science/math teacher. Numbers need to be labeled. 6'3 should be 6' 3", and 4.4 should be labeled.

The best I can do is an A- for two labeling mistakes.

If these lazy mistakes are repeated after midterms, the A- would be a B at best. Anyone who doesn't learned from their mistakes, is fair game on Internet forums.
 
temery said:
I'm a retired science/math teacher. Numbers need to be labeled. 6'3 should be 6' 3", and 4.4 should be labeled.

The best I can do is an A- for two labeling mistakes.

If these lazy mistakes are repeated after midterms, the A- would be a B at best. Anyone who doesn't learned from their mistakes, is fair game on Internet forums.
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Points deducted for improperly capitalizing “internet”, unnecessary comma after 6’3”, and “learned” instead of “learn”.
 
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Rocktheworld said:
Not trying to disparage the guy but Aiden had a pretty serious set of suitors too.

As did the kid we really wanted who went to KU and we wound up with Cam. It happens.
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Aiden was miscast by a coaching suffering from slightly inflated egos after winning 12 straight NCAA tournament games by silly margins. He likely would have done far better elsewhere.

The talent was there. The system fit was not.

My biggest question with Pierce is what does the staff have in mind for him? I don't doubt his talent, but he does seem a troubling fit in a championship-level starting lineup where he is playing 30 minutes a game at the 4. Personally, I don't think that is what is being offered.
 
ec33 said:
Aiden was miscast by a coaching suffering from slightly inflated egos after winning 12 straight NCAA tournament games by silly margins. He likely would have done far better elsewhere.

The talent was there. The system fit was not.

My biggest question with Pierce is what does the staff have in mind for him? I don't doubt his talent, but he does seem a troubling fit in a championship-level starting lineup where he is playing 30 minutes a game at the 4. Personally, I don't think that is what is being offered.
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AK has been a wonderful player for us. That being said, with him and Tarris gone next year, I'd love to see us go portaling for an athletic "4" type who can board, get up and down the floor, and have some nasty. We've gone stretch 4 for four years, but on paper we should have a 5 who can play that role in Reibe. Having Stew or Pierce as your four makes me very concerned in terms of rebounding and athleticism.
 
ec33 said:
Aiden was miscast by a coaching suffering from slightly inflated egos after winning 12 straight NCAA tournament games by silly margins. He likely would have done far better elsewhere.

The talent was there. The system fit was not.
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Yikes I hope I’m not the only one addressing this insane take

So the coaches of UConn are idiots with inflated egos, and only the staff at UCSB have the wherewithal to utilize his talent adequately? That’s how he ended up in the Big West, and not at other programs who were previously interested which included UK, UVA, and Creighton? Pray tell, how would those other teams have used a guard in a guard role better than the staff at UConn did?
 
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Rocktheworld said:
Yikes I hope I’m not the only one addressing this insane take

So the coaches of UConn are idiots with inflated egos, and only the staff at UCSB have the wherewithal to utilize his talent adequately? That’s how he ended up in the Big West, and not at other programs who were previously interested which included UK, UVA, and Creighton? Pray tell, how would those other teams have used a guard in a guard role better than the staff at UConn did?
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Mahaney is a REALLY good mid major player, but someone had to have the rough experience to make that widely known. Dude averaged 13 a game on back to back tournament teams in the WCC and is now averaging 17 a game (26 and 30 points in his last two games) back in the mid majors

Last year he played 1 high major opponent, and it was Rutgers. He popped off with 21 points and 14 rebounds including the game winner in an upset win. Teammate Xaivian Lee is going through the troubles of not being ready for the step up in real time if that’s worth anything

In his best year (23-24), he played 1 against Rutgers again and struggled

He was on that Cinderella sweet 16 team as a freshman. High minutes but didn’t contribute much in March (6 points on 35%, 1-8 on threes, although did have 8 rebounds against Arizona and 16 against Missouri)

Maybe I’m underrating him but if we’re looking for an AK replacement, I’d probably wait to hit the portal after this year
 
REB1094 said:
Mahaney is a REALLY good mid major player, but someone had to have the rough experience to make that widely known. Dude averaged 13 a game on back to back tournament teams in the WCC and is now averaging 17 a game (26 and 30 points in his last two games) back in the mid majors

Last year he played 1 high major opponent, and it was Rutgers. He popped off with 21 points and 14 rebounds including the game winner in an upset win. Teammate Xaivian Lee is going through the troubles of not being ready for the step up in real time if that’s worth anything

In his best year (23-24), he played 1 against Rutgers again and struggled

He was on that Cinderella sweet 16 team as a freshman. High minutes but didn’t contribute much in March (6 points on 35%, 1-8 on threes, although did have 8 rebounds against Arizona and 16 against Missouri)

Maybe I’m underrating him but if we’re looking for an AK replacement, I’d probably wait to hit the portal after this year
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And Danny Wolf transferred from Yale to Michigan and became a first round draft pick. Shonn Miller went from Cornell to UConn with no drop off, same with Malik Mack from Harvard to Georgetown.
 
Rocktheworld said:
Yikes I hope I’m not the only one addressing this insane take

So the coaches of UConn are idiots with inflated egos, and only the staff at UCSB have the wherewithal to utilize his talent adequately? That’s how he ended up in the Big West, and not at other programs who were previously interested which included UK, UVA, and Creighton? Pray tell, how would those other teams have used a guard in a guard role better than the staff at UConn did?
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Two things can be a true. I do think our staff thought they could bring in a player and that the talent and system would instantly mesh.if I remember right they didn’t implied that over the course of the year. It didn't. They realized it didn't work and that was that.

Systems matter and it’s on both sides of the ball. We are not a super athletic team, but our defensive system is geared towards that player and a guy who can guard in isolation. Ever notice we get beat kdf the dribble at will? Thats part player and part system.
 
Mahaney isn’t really a point guard - and trying to turn him into one didn’t work, especially on a team with nobody else to ease that burden. His assists are pretty low at UCSB too. He’s a small score-first guy and a bit of a defensive liability. That was a bad fit next to Solo - who is also a scorer first, and a bit of a defensive liability (last year in particular - he’s gotten a little better, but it still isn’t a strength).

I think a Mahaney-Castle or Mahaney-Demary backcourt might have had a better chance, since you’d have had size, defense and passing at the other guard spot. Or a team with Jackson or DHam at the 3. Or having Aidan as a scoring sixth man if we went with that look from the start.

Feel like that was a miss by us that we really should have seen coming. We knew we were losing passing at the 2-3 going from Spencer-Castle to Ball-McNeeley (no offense to Solo and Liam - just that Cam and Steph were superior at it for their positions). As was Clingan to Sampson. Going from Newton to Aidan was another big drop.
 
boog204 said:
Two things can be a true. I do think our staff thought they could bring in a player and that the talent and system would instantly mesh.if I remember right they didn’t implied that over the course of the year. It didn't. They realized it didn't work and that was that.

Systems matter and it’s on both sides of the ball. We are not a super athletic team, but our defensive system is geared towards that player and a guy who can guard in isolation. Ever notice we get beat kdf the dribble at will? Thats part player and part system.
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And that’s all fine, but do we need the “inflated ego” as the root issue? And nah, clearly, the talent was not there.
 
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Rocktheworld said:
And that’s all fine, but do we need the “inflated ego” as the root issue? And nah, clearly, the talent was not there.
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You can't have it both ways. You think Mahaney sucks at what he does well. On the other hand you have a Hurley of sound mind thinking he could transfer Mahaney's ability at SG to PG (with him playing next to a Solo Ball that had a limited ability to handle the ball).

The coaches had twice made their system work with the limited players they had on hand and they overestimated their abilities to do so when adding Mahaney as a point guard (inflated sense of their own abilities). To me, it is an easily forgivable mistake as who wouldn't have thought they were pretty awesome at these things after those accomplishments?
 
ec33 said:
You can't have it both ways. You think Mahaney sucks at what he does well. On the other hand you have a Hurley of sound mind thinking he could transfer Mahaney's ability at SG to PG (with him playing next to a Solo Ball that had a limited ability to handle the ball).

The coaches had twice made their system work with the limited players they had on hand and they overestimated their abilities to do so when adding Mahaney as a point guard (inflated sense of their own abilities). To me, it is an easily forgivable mistake as who wouldn't have thought they were pretty awesome at these things after those accomplishments?
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Doesn't an inflated sense of ego apply to individuals who go on talent shows with absolutely no talent and are shocked and angry when they get booted off? Or office workers who barely can do simple tasks that believe they should be CEOs?

Even before 23 and 24 they made mistakes with recruiting. It happens to all coaches. The best have less failures.

The second national championship was a big deal. Hurley took advantage of it. It was great PR for the school, the program and for him personally. Unfortunately it also was a distraction which may or may not have contributed to the misjudgment of Mahaney.

Hurley's ego is far from inflated. If anything he still feels the need to prove himself. If your looking for inflated egos you can throw a dart anywhere on the Boneyard to find one.
 
ctchamps said:
Doesn't an inflated sense of ego apply to individuals who go on talent shows with absolutely no talent and are shocked and angry when they get booted off? Or office workers who barely can do simple tasks that believe they should be CEOs?

Even before 23 and 24 they made mistakes with recruiting. It happens to all coaches. The best have less failures.

The second national championship was a big deal. Hurley took advantage of it. It was great PR for the school, the program and for him personally. Unfortunately it also was a distraction which may or may not have contributed to the misjudgment of Mahaney.

Hurley's ego is far from inflated. If anything he still feels the need to prove himself. If your looking for inflated egos you can throw a dart anywhere on the Boneyard to find one.
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We would have done pretty extensive scouting on Mahaney before the ncaa matchup, so we should have had a good sense of what we were getting. But we might have believed getting him in our offense would bring the best out of him. That’s what I thought when he committed. I’m not sure there was a better portal option we were linked to (Brea would have been another shooting weapon)

We adapted in late December by giving Liam more playmaking responsibilities in the halfcourt, and then he got hurt and couldn’t do the same things when he came back. Liam in that role maybe could have unlocked more of Mahaney’s strengths scoring. Then Hass played injured, and Nowell was a recruiting miss - so four things went wrong that compounded our issues. And we still had the national champs on the ropes.
 
ctchamps said:
Doesn't an inflated sense of ego apply to individuals who go on talent shows with absolutely no talent and are shocked and angry when they get booted off? Or office workers who barely can do simple tasks that believe they should be CEOs?

Even before 23 and 24 they made mistakes with recruiting. It happens to all coaches. The best have less failures.

The second national championship was a big deal. Hurley took advantage of it. It was great PR for the school, the program and for him personally. Unfortunately it also was a distraction which may or may not have contributed to the misjudgment of Mahaney.

Hurley's ego is far from inflated. If anything he still feels the need to prove himself. If your looking for inflated egos you can throw a dart anywhere on the Boneyard to find one.
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Far too lazy to find examples, but Hurley has himself admitted he got a little caught up in his own "genius" and needed some humility.
 
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ec33 said:
Far too lazy to find examples, but Hurley has himself admitted he got a little caught up in his own "genius" and needed some humility.
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He said it a few times last year and I think it’s in his book, too.
 
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